For example, a liquid crystal panel used in a liquid crystal display device such as a liquid crystal television does not emit light by itself, and separately requires a backlight unit as an illumination device. The backlight unit is provided on a back side (on a side opposite a display surface) of the liquid crystal panel, and includes a chassis made of metal or resin and opening on a side of the liquid crystal panel, multiple fluorescent tubes (for example, cold cathode tubes) housed as lamps in the chassis, multiple optical members (diffusing sheets or the like) provided in the opening in the chassis for efficiently emitting lights emitted by the cold cathode tubes toward the liquid crystal panel, and a lamp clip that supports an intermediate portion of each of the cold cathode tubes having an elongated tubular shape. An example of such a lamp clip is described in Patent Document 1.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-173250